Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-08-11
TANNING THE HAMMER.
A QUICK WAY OF FILLING YOuR
ENEMY WITH LEAD.

| Hitting the Dead Center of an OppO
nent in Mortal Contest-Sef Cocker
and Single Acting Pistois-The "Fan
ming" Movement Explained.
Harry Fl. Whitehil, ex-sherif Of Gran
county and formerly Of New York city, wa:
In Santa Fe during much of the legislatiy:
session just closed, and in conversation witt
q reporter he remarked:
dts funny, but every tenderfoot think,
that all cowboys carry double acting, or, q
some call them, self cooking revolyers. There
was a time when those weapons were in high
favor, but the cowboys soon found that they
were positively unhandy, instead of being 6
help to man in hurry Now self cooking
pistols are boycotted. I'll bet that four.
ffths Of the cowboys in this territory have
gone back TO the old style single acting pistol
Two years ago everybody bad a double act
ing gum and wouldn't have any other"
"Why. Dent they like the new style!"
"No. They discovered that, try as they
would, they could not avoid DETECTING the
muzzle of the pistol to the right while pulling
| the trigger to raise the hammer. You see.
all the power is applied from the right hand
side of the trigger, where you put your fin
ger in. Now, when you pull the trigger for the
| comparatively long period necessary to get
the double acting hammer up to the point
where the spring is released, and it falls, you
insensibly put heavy pressure on the right
hand side, and can't help slightly swaying the
muzzle in that direction. When the double
acting guns were in style here we used to no.
tice that five out of every six men who got
shot were wounded in the left side. OF these.
about one half were shot SO far to the left
that the ball simply grazed their ribs
Another large percentage were shot on the
inner side of the left arm.
HITTING THE DEAD CENTER
"Now the cowboy prides himself on hitting
the dead center of his opponent. 1t is
always his wish to put the ball right at the
juncture Of the ribs above the stomach. This
is not merely because they want to put ON
style; the placing of a forty-eight caliber ball
right there prevents your man from coming
back at YOU Now, as soon as the cowboy
began TO note this queer feature of the shoot
ing, it became matter of serious moment to
them. They quickly found the fault to be
in the self cocker, which, by DETECTING their
muzzles, of course inclined the balls toward
the left side of the man facing them in front
That settled the self cocker. The fact that
the cowboys were right is proven by the
simultaneous disappearance of the new style
pistol and the temperance of the old style
wound
But can't one shoot faster with the new
style weapon!" asked the tenderfoot
did you ever see a cowboy shoot7" asked
the ex-shertf with quizzical smile. sWhy,
see here, this is a single acting, old style pis-
tol. Watch that tree"
Before the words were well uttered the
handsome sheriff had got the drop on the
growing timber, and six shots rang out in
such rapid succession that they sounded like
the explosion of small pack of Very large
firecrackers. During the shooting Mr.. White
hills left forefinger vibrated along the top OF
the pistol barrel from muzzle to breech The
six balls entered the tree about three inches
apart
snow, ] carry my pistol fixed this way and
it's all ready for use, he continued, exhibit
ing the weapon. 1t was Of 4S caliber, about
eighteen inches long and handsomely mount
ed. The trigger was tied firmly back against
the inner side of the guard with rawhids
thong.
"All 1 have to do with it." explained the ex-
peace guardian, lis to brush the hammer back
as far as it will 60 with my left forefinger,
while l hold the pistol firmly with my right
hand. My right fore6nger never goes near
the trigger, but helps to hold the stock, and
this makes my grip more firm and certain.
When l push back the hammer have only
to take my finger OFF to let it fall and dis
charge the pistol. You see. the trigger, being
lied back, the hammer is always free. One
motion is all that is necessary to push back
the hammer and fire the shot. The trick is
called tanning the hammer You see, I
pushed it back with my left forefinger; it in
SANITY fell when l released it, and the next
instant my finger was again pushing it back
to full cock. Doing this little act quickly
makes your finger sway back and forth in a
way not unlike the tanning motion That's
where it got its name"